No caving to Similan tour operator pressure

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation is refusing to bow to pressure from tour operators in Phang-nga for it to ease current restrictions on the number of visitors to the Similan Islands.

Songtham Suksawang, director of the National Parks Division of the department, says the decision to limit the number of daily visitors to the island at 3,325 plus another 525 visitors for scuba diving was intended to preserve the environment and ecology of the island.

Overnight stays on Similan Islands are also currently banned under the new guidelines.

He says the department doesn’t want a repeat of the situation of the past years when the number of daily visitors spiralled to 6,000-7,000 on some days, well beyond the capability of the island to cope.

“The department doesn’t want to see Similans to end up like Maya Bay in nearby Krabi province which was recently closed indefinitely due to extensive damage caused to coral reefs and the beach from unlimited visitors.”

The parks division chief said he was not worried by the protest of tour operators who claimed that their business would be affected by the restriction because they had already accepted advance bookings from tourists to visit Similan island and that they were given only short notice about the restrictions.

“Park officials had been discussing with the representatives of the operators throughout the past year about the overcrowding problem on the island and about measures to put a curb on the number of visitors to preserve the island’s environment for long-term benefits for all parties concerned.”

Only few tourists visited Similan island yesterday – the second day of the two-day boycott imposed by tour operators to protest against the restrictions.

Tour operators have been taking tourists to Surin island over the past two days.

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New tsunami warning buoy installed off Phuket

A tsunami-warning buoy, valued at 12 million baht, is to be installed off the coast of Phuket, to replace the one that had been broken two years ago. It replaces one that hasn’t been working for 18 months. Two buoys were originally placed several hundred kilometres offshore in the original tsunami warning system following the 2004 Boxing Day tragedy.

The buoy, on board the MV SEAFDEC that departed Phuket yesterday afternoon, is being installed 290 kilometres off the Phuket coast.

This buoy will replace the one that stopped transmitting signals after a passing ship crashed into it, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director-general Chayapol Thitisak said before the MV SEAFDEC was sent on its mission.

Thailand has two tsunami-warning buoys, one located 290 kilometres northwest to Phuket/Phang Nga coast and another located 190 kilometres away, he said.

Once both buoys are operational, along with the international network of tsunami-warning systems in the Indian and Pacific oceans, Thailand will be able to get tsunami warnings well in time, he added.

Chayapol said this expensive buoy will be protected from accidents by bright signs and will be marked in all shipping route maps.

He emphasised that Thailand’s tsunami-warning system was of international standards.

“We also have more than 2,000 disaster warning towers along the coast. These are sufficient,” he said.“

“In case Thailand is hit by another tsunami the public should follow warnings from government agencies and not panic.”

The authorities learned that the previous buoy had stopped sending signals since October 2017, National Disaster Warning Centre director-general Suppapimit Paorik said.

“After the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami devastated many countries, including Thailand, and killed as many as 230,000 people, the Thai authorities have been working to improve the Kingdom’s preparedness and relief measures.”

A big leatherback sea turtle has been rescued by fishermen after getting stuck in fishing nets in Phang Nga last night.

A Phang Nga fishermen rescued the big leatherback sea turtle that was stuck in fishing netting off Phang Nga coast near Khao Na Yak in the Khao Lampi-Hat Thai Mueang Nation Park. The turtle was freed and then released back to the sea.

In another really positive sign for the future of the leatherback sea turtle population in the region, 112 sea turtle eggs were found at Kuek Kak Beach in Khao Lak, Phang Nga last week and also more in last month.

Thanks to the fishermen!

Read more about the latest batch of sea turtle eggs found along the coast HERE.

Pod of more than 10 dolphins spotted off Phuket – VIDEO

Khun Nigorn Garari, who recorded the videos says, “My friends and I were heading from Tab Lamu Pier in Phang Nga at about 1pm yesterday. When we were near Laem Pakarang, which is at the north of Phuket, we saw lots of dolphins. I counted more than 10 of them in the pod.”

“We were very happy to see them. Some of them have swum along with our long tail boat. They followed us for about an hour. The Andaman Sea is very beautiful.”

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